The man most responsible for the financial services and banking deregulation that made today possible, fmr. Sen. Phil Gramm, is the man John McCain wants to put in charge of the whole economy.
Of all the shortcomings of the establishment press today, none is more central to the corruption of the profession than the decision to prioritize balance over accuracy. That corruption is visibly on display in the current coverage of the McCain campaign’s policy of deliberate lies. And you won’t find a better example than Cathleen Decker’s piece in yesterday’s LA Times.
Read into the article and you’ll see numerous instances of McCain’s repeated use of false claims and lies and one instance Decker is able to dig up of an Obama campaign claim that arguably leaves out some information.
But the conclusion and packaging of the article is that both candidates deceive equally and that they do so because it works. (There was another example, though not quite as egregious, by Jonathan Weismann last week in the Post.)
We hear a lot about the steep and perhaps terminal decline of the business model underlying daily print newspapers. But this corruption in the basic conception of the craft — which is actually related to the economic decline — gets discussed much less.
This is what gives liars a clear strategic advantage over non-liars. And it’s an open question whether McCain’s level of dishonesty turns out to be so great that it overwhelms reporters’ unwillingness to report accurately on it.
A new TV ad by Democratic independent groups touches the untouchable: John McCain’s POW status and fitness to be President.
Palin repeats the Bridge to Nowhere lie this morning in Colorado …
You’ll note that while Palin is continuing to restate the lie, there’s a tone of defensiveness in her voice this morning, since they clearly know they’ve been caught.
As I noted below, the big press story of the campaign is shaping up to be how reporters are and will react to McCain’s deliberate strategy of full-court-press lying. The corrupt, though normal, approach is for reporters to try to dig up whatever Obama exaggerations they can find to try to balance the coverage. If that doesn’t work, then they will try to hang the charges on Democrats — i.e., “what Democrats are calling ‘lies'” etc. And of course using the dictionary term — “lies” — for repeated and intentional misstatements of fact is almost always forbidden.
But the lying is so extreme in this case that a few reporters are beginning to actually report the story accurately.
So keep an eye out for examples in both categories — egregious refusals to identify McCain’s lies properly and instances where reporters actually decide not to mince words and accurately report the story before them. If you find them, send them in and we’ll start keeping a list.
AP catches Palin and McCain lying about Obama’s tax plan too.
I like to think I have some pride of place as prime online disseminator of Sarah Palin’s endless list of lies. But Andrew Sullivan is giving me a run for my money.
Post’s Ignatius hops off the tire swing and suggests McCain is selling his soul to the devil.